Political Strategy Notes

The GOP can no longer be defined solely by the acronymn terms "Gridlock, Obstruction and Paralysis." The "sabotage" meme is also begining to stick, as Political Animal Steve Benen observes in the Washington Monthly: "...the "sabotage" question -- concerns that Republicans are deliberately hurting the country, holding back the economy on purpose, for the express purpose of undermining the Obama presidency -- is gaining mainstream traction."

Stanley Greenberg, James Carville, and Erica Seifert have a DCorps report on a new GQR survey exploring attitudes toward the Occupy Wall St. Movement and revealing "an intensely anti-establishment, anti-Washington, anti-Wall Street moment." The report also indicates "On our thermometer scale, voters give chilly ratings all around. Everyone has dropped substantially, but support for the Republican Congress has completely disintegrated. More than half of all voters give these Republicans a negative rating, with a mean rating under 40 degrees. With House Republicans getting a remarkable 65 percent disapproval, the race for Congress is now dead even, after Republicans won by 8 points in 2010."

Julian Brookes has a Rolling Stone post, "People are Ditching Their Banks and Shredding Their Cards," noting: "Efforts like the Facebook-based Bank Transfer Day,, which is urging depositors to switch to a (low-or no-fee) credit union before Nov. 5, and Move Your Money, are having an effect, and local news outlets are reporting an uptick in fund shifts from big banks and into nonprofit institutions. Understandably, credit unions are piling on with ad campaigns urging potential customers to "ditch their banks" and "shred their cards." Some credit unions have seen a 30 percent bump; others have doubled their membership."

Ron Brownstein's National Journal post, "The Stained Glass Divide," shows Dems doing a little better among the faithful than I expected: "Looking then at all adults, Republicans lead Democrats in identification among the very religious by 49 percent to 36 percent; Democrats lead Republicans among the non-religious by 52 percent to 30 percent; and Democrats narrowly lead among the moderately religious by 44 percent to 38 percent."

Daniel Stone has a clip 'n share for Dems at The Daily beast, "The Tea Party Pork Binge," hammering conservative politicians for the disonnect between their pious government-bashing on the one hand and their eagerness to grab all the pork they can for their constituents, Eric Cantor being exhibit 'A.': "But away from the cameras, Cantor sometimes pulls right up to the spending trough, including the very stimulus law he panned in public. Letters obtained by Newsweek show him pressing the Transportation Department to spend nearly $3 billion in stimulus money on a high-speed-rail project--not the one he derided in Nevada, but another in his home state." More juicy revelations here.

Jessica Brady has an interesting post at Roll Call Politics, discussing how conservative challengers in GOP primaries are a potentially-powerful asset for Democrats in their quest to retake majority control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Chris Bowers reports how "One part of Republican plan to derail Wisconsin recalls collapses," when Republican state Senator Dale Schultz took a stand against a bill requiring the recall effort to be conducted under new, redistricted state maps. Bowers notes, however, that the state GOP has another bill in the hopper, which could obstruct the recall by requiring that recall petititions be notarized.

The GOP can no longer be defined solely by the acronymn terms "Gridlock, Obstruction and Paralysis." The "sabotage" meme is also begining to stick, as Political Animal Steve Benen observes in the Washington Monthly: "...the "sabotage" question -- concerns that Republicans are deliberately hurting the country, holding back the economy on purpose, for the express purpose of undermining the Obama presidency -- is gaining mainstream traction."
Stanley Greenberg, James Carville, and Erica Seifert have a DCorps report on a new GQR survey exploring attitudes toward the Occupy Wall St. Movement and revealing "an intensely anti-establishment, anti-Washington, anti-Wall Street moment." The report also indicates "On our thermometer scale, voters give chilly ratings all around. Everyone has dropped substantially, but support for the Republican Congress has completely disintegrated. More than half of all voters give these Republicans a negative rating, with a mean rating under 40 degrees. With House Republicans getting a remarkable 65 percent disapproval, the race for Congress is now dead even, after Republicans won by 8 points in 2010."
Julian Brookes has a Rolling Stone post, "People are Ditching Their Banks and Shredding Their Cards," noting: "Efforts like the Facebook-based Bank Transfer Day,, which is urging depositors to switch to a (low-or no-fee) credit union before Nov. 5, and Move Your Money, are having an effect, and local news outlets are reporting an uptick in fund shifts from big banks and into nonprofit institutions. Understandably, credit unions are piling on with ad campaigns urging potential customers to "ditch their banks" and "shred their cards." Some credit unions have seen a 30 percent bump; others have doubled their membership."
David G. Savage of the L.A.Times D.C. Bureau has an update on the GOP's nation-wide voter suppression campaign, "Election laws tightening in GOP-run states"
Ron Brownstein's National Journal post, "The Stained Glass Divide," shows Dems doing a little better among the faithful than I expected: "Looking then at all adults, Republicans lead Democrats in identification among the very religious by 49 percent to 36 percent; Democrats lead Republicans among the non-religious by 52 percent to 30 percent; and Democrats narrowly lead among the moderately religious by 44 percent to 38 percent."
In his CNN opinion post, James Carville makes a pretty tight argument "Why Rick Perry's presidential bid is toast."
Daniel Stone has a clip 'n share for Dems at The Daily beast, "The Tea Party Pork Binge," hammering conservative politicians for the disonnect between their pious government-bashing on the one hand and their eagerness to grab all the pork they can for their constituents, Eric Cantor being exhibit 'A.': "But away from the cameras, Cantor sometimes pulls right up to the spending trough, including the very stimulus law he panned in public. Letters obtained by Newsweek show him pressing the Transportation Department to spend nearly $3 billion in stimulus money on a high-speed-rail project--not the one he derided in Nevada, but another in his home state." More juicy revelations here.
Jessica Brady has an interesting post at Roll Call Politics, discussing how conservative challengers in GOP primaries are a potentially-powerful asset for Democrats in their quest to retake majority control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Chris Bowers reports how "One part of Republican plan to derail Wisconsin recalls collapses," when Republican state Senator Dale Schultz took a stand against a bill requiring the recall effort to be conducted under new, redistricted state maps. Bowers notes, however, that the state GOP has another bill in the hopper, which could obstruct the recall by requiring that recall petititions be notarized.